ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi, on the advice of the prime minister, on Tuesday filed a reference in the Supreme Court to seek its opinion on an agreement clinched by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government with the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation for the development of Riko Diq mine in Balochistan.
In March this year, Pakistan and Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) Limited — a joint venture company of Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and Chile-based Antofagasta PLC, had agreed to divide shares with each side getting 50 per cent of the proceeds instead of 25 per cent of shares for Pakistan according to a previous deal which virtually came to a naught after Pakistan retracted following the cancellation of the deal with the foreign company by the former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry.
After the cancellation of the agreement, Barrick Gold Copper/TCC approached the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for the settlement of the Reko Diq case. The ICSID slapped a penalty of $16 on Pakistan.
However, Pakistan filed a review petition and in 2019, Pakistan managed to get a reduced penalty from a massive $16 billion to $6 billion in the Reko Diq case.
The ICSID slapped a penalty of $4.08 billion penalty and $1.87 billion in interest on Pakistan. The amount will be paid to TCC by Pakistan.
Earlier, the TCC had been granted a licence for gold and copper mining in the Reko Diq area of Balochistan before the former chief justice of Pakistan cancelled the agreement with the company.
The reference in the top court has been filed after the federal cabinet earlier approved sending the presidential reference to the Supreme Court.
